Chelsea will be desperate to bounce back from three straight defeats when they host London rivals Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.
The 10-man Pensioners suffered a 2-1 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage in the West London derby which left them in 10th position in the Premier League table. They are 10 points behind fourth-placed Manchester United, having won just once in the last five league games.
Under pressure Graham Potter should be expecting a big response from his boys against Crystal Palace, who are 12th in the table with just three points separating them from their London counterparts.
Chelsea Team News
Chelsea’s injury troubles continued in the defeat to Fulham as Denis Zakaria was forced off injured with a quad problem. On top of that, new signing Joao Felix was shown a straight red card for his reckless lunge on Kenny Tete, and the Portuguese forward will now miss the next three games.
Reece James, Edouard Mendy, Armando Broja, N’Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic, Raheem Sterling, Wesley Fofana, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ben Chilwell are already on the sidelines and are not expected to return soon. But Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang recovered from his small back problem and was an unused substitute against Fulham.
Predicted Chelsea Lineup vs Crystal Palace (3-4-3)
Goalkeeper
Kepa Arrizabalaga was partly at fault for Fulham’s second goal which eventually turned out to be the winner on Thursday evening. The Spaniard will be raring to put behind his mistake and produce a clean performance against Crystal Palace.
Defence
Graham Potter is set to stick to a back-three formation, with Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly forming Chelsea’s backline. Silva will be at the heart of their defence, with Koulibaly and Chalobah on either side of the veteran Brazilian.
The Blues’ defensive trio have to be compact, organised and switched on to stop the quick counter-attacks from Crystal Palace.
Midfield
Jorginho is the likely candidate to replace the injured Denis Zakaria in midfield on Sunday. He will partner Mateo Kovacic in central midfield, with Cesar Azpilicueta and Lewis Hall offering width and energy from the wing-back positions.
Conor Gallagher and Carney Chukwuemeka will again have to be content for spots on the bench and hope to make an impact in the game if called upon by the manager.
Attack
Due to Sterling, Broja and Pulisic being injured and new signing Felix picking up a straight red card against Fulham, Graham Potter has limited attacking options at his disposal right now. He could use Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech out wide, tasking them with the responsibility of creating meaningful chances in the box for Kai Havertz to score.
This will see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang start on the bench again for Chelsea.
